1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power inverter, for example, a power inverter suitable for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power inverter comprises an inverter, a smoothing capacitor connected in parallel with a DC power supply terminal of the inverter, and a control circuit which controls the inverter. The inverter has a plurality of power semiconductors, and the plurality of inverters are used as a power module in unit of a predetermined number. Therefore, the inverter comprises one or more power modules including a plurality of power semiconductors.
It is known that such a power inverter configured as a unit comprises a housing which mounts the power module, a second block which mounts the smoothing capacitor, and a third block which mounts a control board integrating the control circuit, which are all stacked in order, wherein the second block is fixed to the housing and the third block is fixed to the second block.
A power inverter having such a configuration is disclosed in details, for example, in JP-A-2003-199363.